Friday, June 10, 2011

The 2011 Gunnison sage-grouse season at the Waunita lek was a big success! A big thank you to the Colorado Division of Wildlife, Sisk-a-dee, Western State College, and Dr. Pat Magee. And a special thanks to all the volunteers for dedicating their time to educate visitors on the grouse and lek, as well as collecting daily data on the sage grouse and visitors. This was the first year since the site's development in 2004, that every volunteer made it to the lek on each assigned day - we had perfect attendance and monitored all 40 days of the season!

And thanks to all the visitors, both in the parking lot and in the trailor, for being respectful to the site and the birds. 2011 boasted one of the lowest protocol violations made throughout the entire season.

Below is a summary, taken from the 2011 final report, of counts, flush times, and visitors from April 1, 2011 to May 10, 2011.

Waunita Lek: 2011 Daily Summary Statistics

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

March 29

Total Birds: 32

Males: 14

Females: 18

Flushed: 0726

Reason: Unknown

People: 11

Cars: 4

March 30

Preseason

No data

March 31

Preseason

No data

April 1

Total Birds: 43

Males: 19

Females: 24

Flushed: 0717

Reason: Unknown

People: 11

Cars: 6

April 2

Total Birds: 45

Males: 27

Females: 18

Flushed: 0632

Reason: metal bang noise

People: 10

Cars: 5

April 3

Total Birds: 33

Males: 19

Females: 14

Flushed: 0650

Reason: Golden eagle

People: 23

Cars: 8

April 4

Total Birds: 33

Males: 19

Females: 14

Flushed: 0640

Reason: Unknown

People: 22

Cars: 4

April 5

Total Birds: 51

Males: 21

Females: 30

Flushed: 0739

Reason: Unknown

People: 4

Cars: 3

April 6

Total Birds: 36

Males: 13

Females: 23

Flushed: 0655

Reason: Unknown

People: 17

Cars: 7

April 7

Total Birds: 20

Males: 12

Females: 8

Flushed: 0635

Reason: Golden eagle

People: 9

Cars:6

April 8

Total Birds: 24

Males: 13

Females: 11

Flushed: 0709

Reason: Coyotes

People: 26

Cars: 6

April 9

Total Birds: 22

Males: 15

Females: 7

Flushed: 0619

Reason: Golden eagle

People: 23

Cars: 10

April 10

Total Birds: 17

Males: 10

Females:7

Flushed: 0619

Reason: Elk and coyote

People: 7

Cars: 3

April 11

Total Birds: 18

Males: 9

Females: 9

Flushed: 0616

Reason: Unknown

People: 16

Cars: 5

April 12

Total Birds: 17

Males: 8

Females: 9

Flushed: 0703

Reason: Coyotes and magpies

People: 27

Cars: 9

April 13

Total Birds: 15

Males: 12

Females: 3

Flushed: 0627

Reason: Golden eagle

People: 21

Cars: 9

April 14

Total Birds: 19

Males: 14

Females: 5

Flushed: 0618

Reason: Unknown

People: 24

Cars: 5

April 15

Total Birds: 17

Males: 12

Females: 5

Flushed: 0652

Reason: Unknown

People: 20

Cars: 4

April 16

Total Birds: 19

Males: 19

Females: 0

Flushed: 0647

Reason: Unknown

People: 24

Cars: 16

April 17

Total Birds: 17

Males: 13

Females: 4

Flushed: 0612

Reason: Golden eagle

People: 29

Cars: 14

April 18

Total Birds: 10

Males: 10

Females: 0

Flushed: 0656

Reason: Golden eagle

People: 31

Cars:7

April 19

Total Birds: 6

Males: 5

Females:1

Flushed: 0555

Reason: Unknown

People: 28

Cars: 8

April 20

Total Birds: 11

Males: 8

Females: 3

Flushed: 0556

Reason: Mallards

People: 19

Cars: 5

April 21

Total Birds: 14

Males: 11

Females: 3

Flushed: 0614

Reason: Weather

People: 28

Cars: 6

April 22

Total Birds: 4

Males: 4

Females: 0

Flushed: 0605

Reason: Unknown

People: 11

Cars: 3

April 23

Total Birds: 8

Males: 6

Females:23

Flushed: 0604

Reason: Unknown

People: 24

Cars: 10

April 24

Total Birds: 4

Males: 4

Females: 0

Flushed: 0548

Reason: Unknown

People: 4

Cars: 3

April 25

Total Birds:6

Males: 6

Females: 0

Flushed: 0601

Reason: Unknown

People: 1

Cars: 1

April 26

Total Birds: 7

Males: 5

Females: 2

Flushed: 0549

Reason: Unknown

People: 1

Cars: 1

April 27

Total Birds: 9

Males: 7

Females: 2

Flushed: 0609

Reason: Unknown

People: 2

Cars: 2

April 28

Total Birds: 23

Males: 18

Females: 5

Flushed: 0606

Reason: Unknown

People: 10

Cars: 4

April 29

Total Birds: 12

Males: 12

Females: 0

Flushed: 0550

Reason: Unknown

People: 13

Cars: 4

April 30

Total Birds: 17

Males: 13

Females: 4

Flushed: 0726

Reason: Unknown

People: 20

Cars: 6

May 1

Total Birds: 14

Males: 13

Females: 1

Flushed: 0650

Reason: Unknown

People: 1

Cars: 1

May 2

Total Birds: 17

Males: 16

Females: 1

Flushed: 0719

Reason: Unknown

People: 3

Cars: 2

May 3

Total Birds: 16

Males: 12

Females: 4

Flushed: 0628

Reason: Unknown

People: 3

Cars: 2

May 4

Total Birds: 15

Males: 12

Females: 3

Flushed: 0708

Reason: Unknown

People: 1

Cars: 1

May 5

Total Birds: 16

Males: 14

Females: 2

Flushed: 0640

Reason: Unknown

People: 5

Cars: 2

May 6

Total Birds: 20

Males: 15

Females: 5

Flushed: 0638

Reason: Geese

People: 4

Cars: 2

May 7

Total Birds: 13

Males: 13

Females: 0

Flushed: 0715

Reason: Unknown

People: 3

Cars: 2

May 8

Total Birds: 18

Males: 16

Females: 2

Flushed: 0656

Reason: Golden eagle

People: 9

Cars: 5

May 9

Total Birds: 19

Males: 16

Females: 3

Flushed: 0548

Reason: Unknown

People: 1

Cars: 1

May 10

Total Birds: 13

Males: 9

Females: 4

Flushed: 0554

Reason: Unknown

People: 1

Cars: 1

If you'd like more information about viewing the Gunnison sage-grouse please visit http://www.siskadee.org/. There, you will find contact information, protocols, and etc. The Siskadee site will be updated further in the fall of 2011.